Old Black and white chillers are hopefully part of every horror
fans education whilst growing up. From the most well known
Dracula's, Wolfman's, Frankenstein's and "White Zombie"
to lesser known epics like "The Dark Eyes Of London," "The
Face At The Window," "The Bodysnatcher"... the list
is endless. It's the lesser known productions, sometimes, which
grab the best writers and the best stars. Of course the star of
this film is none other than Boris Karloff.

It's pointless of me to go into his career right here because
I'm hopefully preaching to the converted. On a personal note,
what I admire about Mr. Karloff is his diverse talent (on show
here especially) and in various interviews he stated that he was
quite content with his horror moniker so long as his fans were
happy. A lot of great classic actors fought tooth and nail to
get different roles in different genres and could be bitter
under their exteriors. Karloff was no different; he tried to
get into other roles, however I suppose seeing the way his
career was moving he resigned himself to its direction (and I
guess the volume of paid work helped his attitude as well).

"The Black Room" is everything a classic golden age
horror should be. It doesn't include any monsters in make up,
but a very sinister human monster. In this kind of film the
melodrama and intense facial expressions take over.

The whole story is built around a cursed noble family who are
chained by the old knowledge that the newborn twins shall grow
up to be doomed. Apparently in their grounds there is a black
room where legend has it the youngest twin (by a few minutes)
shall slay the elder twin, as has happened before many years
ago, and the family line shall end with them. On top of it all,
the youngest twin has been born with one paralysed arm so as the
delivering doctor sums up, he may be bitter about life. The
family's decision is to brick up the entrance to the black room
so to avoid any truth in the legend.

The years pass, the mother and father dies, the twins get older
and older, overseen by family friend Colonel Hassel (Thurston
Hall). Terrified by the legends, the younger twin Anton has
left the area for many years, leaving his older brother Gregor
to rule over the land. Gregor is a twisted sadistic maniac who
is rumoured to be luring village girls to the estate and killing
them though no concrete proof exists. He is hated by the small
population who are gradually plucking up the courage to rise up
against him.

Receiving a pleading letter from Gregor, Anton returns with his
faithful dog Tor at his side. He is not a bitter person as
summed up decades ago, but a kindly man, the total opposite to
Gregor. This is the best thing, since Boris Karloff plays both
twins. Cutaway shots, and a seamless split screen (awesome for
its time) give his acting against himself such power that you
end up believing there are two totally different actors in the
room. Gregor has wild hair and a broad sneer. Anton has a
smile, slick back hair and of course a paralysed arm forever
pressed against his chest.

Of course it's all a cunning scheme. Gregor shows Anton the new
entrance to the black room. Both twins enter, only one leaves.
Gregor now imitates Anton to gain the trust of the town and the
Colonel and win the hand of the Colonel's niece, Thea. Here's
the money shot quality in the performance because now Boris
Karloff is in fact playing a third character style as Gregor has
to become Anton in manner and appearance. Of course it is hard
and Gregor does make mistakes, and has to resort to killing
members of the cast and the climax takes the story full circle
with a satisfying outcome.

Being from the thirties, it's fun to see the stage setting
graveyards and village roads with only a few exterior shots.
The sets are well constructed, even the painted night skies.
The violence is mainly off camera and sometimes hard to figure
out. I mean, what does Gregor actually do to Colonel Hassel?
Stab him? Choke him? Fist him? All we see is the Colonel's
hand crunching up in agony as he stands by a fireplace. Our
imagination can run wild. It's nice to see Tor the dog have a
critical role in the film as well.

Of course Karloff dominates the proceedings but Marian Marsh
plays her part very well and you can see her pure revulsion for
Gregor and her torn loyalties for her true love (some geeky
standard b/w hero type) and her uncle's wishes.

So far as I can see "The Black Room" is only available on
DVD as part of The Icon's Of Horror: Boris Karloff four film
collection along with "The Man They Could Not Hang," "The
Boogie Man Will Get You,"and"Before I
Hang" so it has a raw deal but at least it's a nice polished
copy. Karloff is someone who can easily be overlooked as just a
monster actor or man in make up. Think Boris and you think a
square head maybe. Away from his most famous creation are
little gems like this, just ripe for rediscovery, since others
like "Isle Of The Dead," "Bedlam" and "The
Bodysnatcher" are being granted new releases.